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Chapter 7: Clutch

7 Clutch!

It was three in the afternoon, and Nicky was still marrying couples while the rest of the campus were all glued watching some friendly basketball game between Team Newton and Team Einstein. The Newton team is composed of freshies and seniors while sophomores and junior made up the Team Einstein. Nicky was not even interested watching the game. She’d be locking up the booth in fifteen minutes. The couples are getting rare, though, but she liked the peace and quietness as she pursued on her reading.

“I don’t think there aren’t any more couples who want to get hitched,” June blurted after the last couple exited out of the booth.

“Let’s wait for another while,” Nicky said as she sat back on her stool, holding up her book. She and June were the only ones left in the booth. The other ones who were asked to chase some couples never came back. They probably had gone out to watch the game.

“You don’t want to watch some basketball?”

“Nope. I’d rather read and wait for the next couple.”

“It’s fun to watch some basketball, you know.”

Nicky didn’t reply. She knew June loved anything basketball, that girl even knew all the teams and players in NBA and PBA. And June not just knew and loved the game, but she could play it, too. Nicky had watched June played basketball against her older brother during Nicky’s visit to June’s house. And she was not bad. But June was not the show-off type. Nobody else in school knew she could shoot some hoops.

It was really not that Nicky hated basketball. She actually had come to love it and was even a fan of NBA, too. June had somehow influenced her into liking the game, and they’d always watch NBA games at June’s house during weekends. But Nicky hated watching local games, especially school basketball games. She thought they were lame and were nothing compared to NBA.

“If you want, you can go,” Nicky finally said, as she turned a leaf of the book she’s reading. She tried to sound nice, but she noticed the bitterness in her tone.

“I really want to go, but I hate leaving you here,” June replied coolly.

“I’m okay. I like being alone. I hate the chaos. The loud cheers. The screams in there. And trust me, the players are not that even great.”

“Oh, c’mon, Nicky. This is our senior year. This is our last foundation day. You’ve to get at least witness the game.” June knew Nicky had not watched any school basketball game yet, since freshmen year.

“I said I’m fine here, June.”

“Fine, because I’m really going, Nicky. I think John Michael had Danica checked the attendance.”

“John Michael knows I’m here.”

“But Danica didn’t.”

“John Michael would tell her. And hey, I’m practically the class president and the SG governor, remember?”

“Okay, then. Do what you wanna do. I’m going, now. And oh,” June stopped when she was about out of the booth. She turned and said, “Just so you know, I heard Ynigo’s playing.”

The mentioned of Iggy’s name was enough for Nicky to bolt up from her seat and closed up the marriage booth earlier than she planned. The two girls then headed out to watch the basketball game.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, you know,” June muttered contemptuously as they finally arrived at the court.

“Shut up, June.”

“You’re just here to swoon over your crush.”

“I said shut up. Someone could hear you.”

June merely laughed as they squeezed their way into the crowd of students. They spotted their classmates huddled on one corner, right beside the beaming excited freshmen. The other half of the court was lined with sophies and juniors who were all cheering in unison for their team. Nicky and June stood behind their classmates. They craned their necks to get a view of the game. Nicky scanned the court and she couldn’t see Iggy.

“He’s not there,” Nicky finally said to June.

June laughed again. “You’d really think he’d play? I only told you that so you would come with me.”

“So he’s not really playing?”

June shrugged her shoulders. “Can he even play?”

Nicky glared at June.

“I’m sorry, Nicky. But hey, the game’s tight. This is nice! You should really watch now.”

“I’m going back,” Nicky said grimly. It was then that Red stole the ball from a lanky sophie boy who was spun and momentarily confused where the ball he had been dribbling just went. The senior girls were all screams as Red headed for a fast break and drove right into a stocky junior guy who shot up his hands to try and block the ball. Instead of slamming up the ball against the junior guy’s blocking hands, Red quickly passed it to Eddie Boy who shot it in an open two. The seniors and freshmen cheered. Team Newton was up by two points.

“He could have just dunked it,” Nicky murmured gravely. “And he could have drawn a foul against Gomez.”

“I think he’s worried he’d get an offensive foul, instead. Give him credits, Nicky. It was a nice turn-over and a good pass.”

“It could have been a three-point game.”

“Why don’t you stop complaining and just watch.”

“What else is there to watch? Our team is clearly winning. And you-know-who is not even playing.”

June sighed, obviously exasperated.

“I’m sorry, I’m hushing up now,” Nicky then said. Nicky glanced around. She immediately noticed Lois a few feet before her. She was with Pricilla and Camille (so she calls them her BFFs) and right beside Camille was Iggy who clearly was not in a jersey shirt. Nicky wondered if he could even play basketball. He was not as tall or as athletic as all the players in the team, but he’d probably look just right in a jersey. Would she even like him less if he couldn’t play basketball at all? Nicky dismissed the thought right away. It really didn’t matter. I like him, despite that he can or can’t play basketball. It was then, while she was staring at Iggy’s back, that Iggy suddenly turned and caught her eyes. Stiffened, she couldn’t look away and shift her gaze. Iggy didn’t linger his eyes at her, though. He seemed to be looking for something else as he kept turning his head. Or was he just trying to look away from me?

Suddenly, a nudge in her elbow as half of the spectators hollered and cheered.

“Did you see that?” June’s voice was loud in her ears.

“Yeah, I think he had just looked at me,” Nicky whispered.

“What?”

“You know who. I was staring at him when he suddenly turned. And I think he stared back at me for like a good second.”

“Oh, not that,” June’s voice suddenly dropped from an utter disappointment. “I told you to pay attention to the game. Red had just scored. He threw in a long three.”

“I couldn’t care any less.”

“You should have seen it. It was a clutch shot and he was like a feet only from the half court line.”

“I still don’t care,” but it took a moment for Nicky to reply.